


To Have and To Hold

by primeideal



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen, Ghosts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:13:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25541908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/primeideal/pseuds/primeideal
Summary: True friends always find a way to rescue each other, come what may.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 22
Collections: Just Married Exchange 2020





	To Have and To Hold

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sholio](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sholio/gifts).



> Slightly AU in that the Byers and El stayed in Hawkins after season 3.

“Does anyone know of a reason why these two should not be married?” Joyce asked.

“If you do,” Erica piped up, “you better have a really good reason why you didn’t speak up before. Just saying.”

Joyce sighed. Elaborate wedding rituals had nothing to do with whether a marriage had real love underlying it; she knew that as well as anyone. Yet she found herself wanting the day to go well, not just for the obvious reasons, but also so the kids had something to celebrate. By El’s standards, this was practically a normal event, and even Max and Will were wide-eyed as if the empty video store was a cathedral.

“In that case, you may make your vows,” said Joyce. “Robin?”

Robin was wearing a bright yellow dress, and holding a bouquet she had bought from a confused Hawkins florist the night before. “I, Robin, do take you, Steve, to be my husband, to hold you and hopefully hold your living hand, when we’re happy or sad, safe or in danger, healthy or doped-up on Russian drugs, dead or alive, but hopefully alive, until, uh, you don’t need to be married to me.”

According to Will and El, Steve was still wearing the T-shirt and sneakers he’d had on when he fell into the Upside Down. The others could only see him in shimmers, or in their periphery, but Robin hadn’t been disturbed by that. “I’d know his voice anywhere,” she pointed out, “he never shuts up.”

The half-dead image flickered. “I, Steve, do take you, Robin, to be my wife, to hold and be held by, to respect and protect each other, and to fight alongside each other, until I can live without you.”

Joyce hoped very much that the ritual worked, but it wasn’t like she could make any bigger a fool of herself. “In that case, I now pronounce you married. Let nothing separate these two who have chosen each other, not even interdimensional barriers or monsters.”

The air ripped where Steve should have been. There was a bright gash with orange light streaming through, then grey trails of mist or ooze clearing a path for him, and he stumbled forward, bruised and bleeding but very much alive.

Robin caught him, enveloping him in a hug. “Hey,” she said. “You’re not allowed to go falling into other dimensions without me again. Okay?”

“Robin,” he stammered. “Man, is it good to see you.”

“You need first aid,” said Joyce. “Max, can you go get—”

“I’m fine,” said Steve. “I mean, I’ve been worse, I’ll deal with it later.”

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” Dustin chanted.

Robin tensed, but Steve said only, “I don’t want to scar Erica.”

“I’ve seen your tongue drooling over an ice cream sundae,” Erica noted. “It’s nothing special.”

“How about a ring?” said Mike.

“I was trapped in the Upside Down,” Steve pointed out. “There wasn’t a lot of time to go jewelry shopping.”

“At camp I saw a guy who had a Mobius strip necklace,” said Dustin. “You know, it goes on the same side forever because there’s no end. When I get married I want a ring like that.”

Will shook his head. “You are such a nerd.”

“Look who’s talking!”

“I can’t believe we all thought your girlfriend was fake,” said Lucas, “and now here’s Robin getting literally married to a ghost.”

“Okay, come on,” said Joyce. “You guys should get going, Steve especially, before there are any more questions.”

“Hold on,” said Max, “what about cake?”

“Not all weddings are big ceremonies—” Joyce began.

But Lucas shook his head. “No, no, Max and I made cake!”

“Is _that_ why you had me drive you?” Robin asked. “I was wondering, I expected you just to skateboard here.”

“Yep!” Max said proudly, pointing to a plastic bag she had stored on top of the kids’ animation section. Inside was a chocolate cake, and Lucas produced a grocery bag with plates and silverware.

“I wasn’t sure what to put on a wedding cake,” he admitted, “since we didn’t really know if Steve would be alive enough to blow out candles.”

“Even a ghost can blow out candles,” said Erica. “They’re _ghosts_ , they make spooky blowing noises.”

“What if they’re trapped in another dimension, though?”

“Good thing we don’t have to find out,” said Robin. “Thank you guys, this is sweet.”

Steve cut the cake, reveling in the feel of a solid knife under his fingers and real, if junk, food in his stomach. “Not bad,” he said. “We should get married more often.”

“Maybe Beth Wildfire can die next,” Robin whispered, and they giggled.

“I think tradition is you’re supposed to save a piece,” said Mike, “and then freeze it.”

“And then what?” El asked.

“I’m not sure,” he said. “Take it out of the freezer every once in a while and be happy you’re still married.”

“Well, that’s a silly tradition. Why not just eat it all now?”

“I agree.”

“Tradition also says we get to dance,” said Dustin. “You think we could fit between this shelf and the sports movies?”

Will rolled his eyes. “No one wants to see you dance, Dustin.”

“When Steve gets married for real,” Dustin went on, undeterred, “I get to give the speech. And talk about how I knew him when he was just a loser selling ice cream.”

“Hey,” said Robin. “I have dibs.”

“Dibs on the toast?” Steve said. “That’s progress, last time you said I was never going to get married.”

“Well, now you can charm the ladies with the story of how you survived turning into a ghost. They’ll believe it as much as they do any of your other exploits.”

Will was picking at his cake halfheartedly. “Don’t you like it?” asked El, who had helped herself to a second slice.

“It’s fine,” said Will. “It’s just...when _we_ had adventures, we needed to fight to escape. Portals and Morse Code and your powers. Hopper _died_! And all Steve has to do is fall in love with Robin and he’s fine?”

Steve laughed. “I’m about as in-love with her as Leia and Luke are in _Return of the Jedi_.”

“What?” said Erica.

“You know how Han Solo asks Leia if she loves Luke, and she says ‘yes,’ and he says ‘okay, you can be his girlfriend if you want, I won’t be jealous’? And she says ‘no, I love him, but not like that, he’s my brother.’ I love Robin, but I’m not _in_ love with her.”

Robin grinned. “I’m just the only person cool enough to see ghosts.”

“So,” said Mike, “you’re saying that Robin is your long-lost sister. And your father is Darth Vader.”

“Well, sort of.”

“But Robin’s actually in love with Harrison Ford,” Dustin added.

“Luke was never a ghost, though,” said Lucas. “Obi-Wan was the ghost.”

“We still needed your adventuring skills, Will,” Robin pointed out. “If you and El hadn’t deciphered the message from the crypt guardian, we wouldn’t have known to try the ceremony.”

“We’d have figured something out,” Dustin said. “I mean, without Steve, this whole place would collapse, and then where would we get our movies?”

Steve nodded approvingly, and then scowled. “So you’re saying you don’t think my boss is going to give me a week off for the honeymoon?”

Robin snorted. “After we covered for you being a ghost? You’re lucky no one else suspects anything.”

“Are we sure they don’t?” said Max. “This city is crazy, and I haven’t even lived here that long.”

“People can be pretty determined not to see anything unusual if they don’t want to,” Robin noted. “Not you guys. You guys are smart.”

“I don’t know about that,” said Erica. “You’ve met my brother, right?”

Robin ignored her, handing the flowers to Joyce. “Thanks again. You’re a lifesaver, literally.”

“I’m used to it,” said Joyce. “But I think I’m a little old for these.”

“I can’t bring them back to Bloomington,” said Robin. “My roommate will ask questions.”

“So tell her,” said Mike. “You had to rush home to marry your high school sweetheart and save his life, it was very romantic.”

It was Steve’s turn to snort. “Robin and I were not exactly sweethearts in high school.”

“That’s stretching it,” said Robin. “We weren’t even on speaking terms, if I recall correctly.”

“Let that be a lesson to you,” said Steve, wagging his finger at Dustin sternly. “The kids you look down on today might wind up saving your life.”

Dustin and Mike laughed, but Will slouched over the remaining crumbs again. El didn’t ask before spearing the last bite of any real size with her fork. “El!” Joyce snapped.

Robin leaned against the musicals shelf, turning towards Will. “Even if someone changes, it’s not your job to give them a second chance. Steve and I really are friends, but if we hadn’t been, that’s okay. I mean, it might not have been okay with the Russians and the mall and everything, but it would be for me.”

“I don’t—I don’t want _them_ to change. What if they decide they’re friends with all the cool kids now, and I’m not?”

Joyce winced. She wanted to tell Will he had nothing to be afraid of; the social currents of high school were a drop in the bucket compared to what he’d already survived. But then, the Joyce of a few months ago was not too far-flung from the Joyce of two decades ago, who had daydreamed about getting Jim Hopper under the football bleachers. Will’s singlemindedness was not necessarily a good thing, but he came by it honestly.

“Don’t worry,” said Erica. “Lucas wouldn’t be cool even if you stacked him on a skateboard. Three skateboards.”

“Erica!” Lucas seethed.

Max grinned speculatively. “There’s an idea.”

“Look,” said Robin. “For one, you’ve beat up monsters and saved the world together, that makes you closer than most friends. Two, you have that dragon game. You have to be creative there, right? To find your way out of the caves and stuff?”

“Sure,” said Will. “But what does that have to do with anything? They might get too old for it.”

“If you can think on your feet like that, you can get through anything. New friends or old, good times or bad. You just have to keep telling yourself it’s not the end of the chapter.”

Will gave an impressed nod. “That’s pretty wise.”

“She is,” said Dustin. “High charisma, too. Not _too_ high, though, or she’d make Steve look hopeless next to her.”

“Please,” said Robin. “Steve looks hopeless already.”

“So what?” Steve retorted. “It means you can see me and I’m here in this dimension. I’ll count that as a win...Mrs. Harrington.”

“Ohhhh no you don’t.” Robin glared. “I’m still Robin Buckley, and I always will be.”

Steve shrugged. “We can argue about it for our anniversary.”

Robin smiled, and hugged him again, bruises and all, alive in the world.


End file.
